Pros:Looks great, i like the design, elegant but not too flashy.Lots of room for cable management.Onboard fan controller.

Cons:DO buy the NZXT 200mm fan is you wish to install the two addition 200mm fans. Other brands(such as CM) will NOT fit in.Not enough room for the side 200mm fan if a large cpu heatsink is installed (see my pics which i used a Scythe Mugen 2).You have to keep the intake fans running faster than the exhaust ones to overpressure your case to prevent dust.calculation here (assuming all 7 fans are installed):NZXT 120mm fan: 47CFMNZXT 140mm fan: 62.5CFMNZXT 200mm fan: 166CFMintake=47+47+62.5+166=322.5exhaust=47+166+166=379you will get a -56.5CFM if all fans are at stock speed.So save your money and forget about the additional top 200mm exhaust fan.

I’ve been using this case for about a month and I’m a huge fan. I’d never heard of NZXT before but the reviews for this case caught my eye and I figured it was worth a shot. It definitely was. Coming from an hp media center case was like night and day, literally. This case is black and the hp case is white… The night is a bit bigger but not by much, and the phantom has better aesthetics, airflow, and cable management.

Pros:a: The case is very spacious. It’s tall and long so you don’t have to worry about fitting your graphics card. My Radeon HD6950 has about 3 or 4 inches of room between the rear of the card and the drive bays.b: Lots of fan ports: 2 192mm fans on top pump out hot air, a side port allows you to blow on your graphics card and motherboard, and front/side fans blow on your hard drives. All this makes for a cool system.c: Integrated fan controller. Very nice for regulating your fans manually; you no longer have to worry about PWM and whatnot. Very convenient if using for both gaming and home theater.d: Lots of angles; this is a very sexy case and very distinctive. If you like having a unique system, this case may be for you.e: Very large. Yes, this was covered in a, but only with respect to room for interior components. There are other benefits as well. Upon first seeing this case, my 5’2″ girlfriend commented that if an armed intruder were to enter the house, she could hide behind the case and have a reasonable chance of escaping unscathed. I agreed, and added that if I removed the hard drive bays, I could fit her into it and send her to NZXT for warranty support.

Alas, every product has cons. Here they are for this case:a: The major con is the width of the case and/or positioning of the rear outlet fan. This is due to the fact that with either a large air cooler or a corsair h50/h70 water cooler, you will not be able to fit the 200mm fan into the side panel. Trust me, I tried. When I attached a 200mm fan to the side, my h70 occupied the second quadrant (pi/2 – pi for those mathematically inclined) of the fan as seen from outside the case. There really is no way to get around this; if you move the fan any lower you overlap with the motherboard output ports. I solved this by taking 2 120mm fans, taping them together using gorilla tape, and then using metal wire to attach them to the screw holes. I also drilled a hole in one corner to solidly screw in the assembly; it holds very well and performs admirably. It’s placed in the lower half of the fan port and blows air directly onto my graphics card.b: Doesn’t come with all of the fans installed. You have to pay to get the rest of the fans. There’s plenty of airflow even without the extra fans if you don’t want to pay though.c: The LED button on the rear allows you to turn off the fan LED, but not the power/HDD or fan controller LEDs.d: The door can bother some people but I don’t mind ite: USB ports are on top of the case which decreases their range by a few inches compared to front mounted ports. It also makes it a bit of a hassle to put in a USB if you’re like me and put it into a media shelf where the shelf panel is only a couple inches above the top of the case.f: The fully built system is a bit heavy, but nothing unmovable. I’m a 5’5″ college kid and I had no trouble moving it from my house to my 3rd floor apartment.g: The latch system for taking off the side panel isn’t well thought out. It’s hard to explain but the latches on the inside aren’t firmly attached and it’s easy to dislodge them, causing the spring to fall off. In this manner, the spring for the latch fell into my power supply. I bent an uncoated wire into a tweezer shape and started digging around inside the PSU to get it out. I think about 10 seconds passed before I realized how bad of an idea this was. Believe it or not, I’m actually an honors student. Fortunately, I survived the experience and was able to post this review. I recommend just unscrewing all the screws rather than using the latch.

Although I listed more cons than pros, the magnitude of the pros greatly outweighs that of the cons and I thoroughly recommend this case to anyone. I really like it and you will too.

There are some things I learned the hard way that one should be aware of.First–the NZXT 200mm fans are smaller than 200mm, so other’s fans most likely won’t work in this case. Even with the NZXT ones, to get two on the top is a really tight fit.

2nd–While the cable management under the MB tray is great, be careful about how thick wire bundles are going under there. The power supply main cable makes it really difficult to replace the side panel when you’re done.

3rd–If you want to use a side 200mm fan, pay close attention to the height of the CPU cooler. I didn’t have enough room for a Scythe Mugen 3 with the side fan so I’m either going to have to sacrifice one or mod the case.

4th (minor)–I never realized how much I had gotten used to placing stuff on top of the case. You can’t do that with this one as the top is shaped.

Overall, though, this case is quiet because it accommodates so much airflow that all fans can run silent. There is plenty of room to spare (but see above) and it looks nice. While not the highest build quality I’ve ever owned, there are no glaring faults either. Enjoy.

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